The Portfolio ((G/T))

Chapter One

((I will have a better cover later on! I need to draw it first!))

"What do you mean she quit on me?!" Mark's voice echoed in disbelief throughout his home office as he yelled into his phone, one hand on his head. "My portfolio is almost done, why'd she quit now?! Alison is the one model I was able to get this month! I doubt I'd be able to get another one!" 

"Sir please." A soft voice came from the other end of the phone, which belonged to his assistant Rosemary. "I know you're upset, but there has to be a model left. After all, your portfolio is almost done."

"Rosemary, I have to start the whole thing over again! I have a deadline!" Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath through his nose, exhaling through his mouth. "But I'll try. We'll both call my previous clients and see what all we can do. Let's hope I can find one in time. In the meantime, have a good weekend and I'll see you Monday." 

"Have a good weekend sir." Rosemary replied before she hung up the phone with a soft 'click.'

Once he knew her line was hung up, Mark turned his cell phone off with a sigh and turned back to his laptop screen and looked through the photos he was editing for Alison Graybell. He had already put at least 15 hours into this portfolio, not counting the hours taking the photos. With an annoyed growl, he set his head on the edge of his desk. "Now what am I going to do?" He mumbled with a deep frown.

Ellie peeked out from around the giant bookshelf, looking at the human. He seemed relatively distracted, so she might have time to get downstairs and snag some food so that she'll be good for a day or two. She also couldn't help but wonder why he was so upset but didn't want to pay too much attention before she ducked her head back behind the bookshelf and crawled into the hole in the wall she made.

She had built tunnels all throughout his walls. Leading from downstairs to upstairs, from the bedroom to the kitchen, the kitchen to the living room, and so on so forth. She ran through the wall silently, grabbing onto the string she 'borrowed' from the human to hang down from the upstairs to the downstairs. She had tied knots in it as foot and handholds to make climbing easier.

Once she got to the bottom, she dashed through her tunnel and turned right, exiting through the hole inside his kitchen which was directly in the back in the shadows of a cupboard. She took the safety pin she had around her back, unfastening it and stabbed a box of cereal, making a hole large enough she could rip away the cardboard. Once the cardboard of the box was ripped enough, she stabbed the bag holding the cereal and tore the bag until a bunch of the cereal fell out onto the base of the cupboard.

Grinning, she took her small backpack off her back, attaching the safety pin to it again as she stuffed a couple bits in her pack. This would last her at least two days, and once the human goes to bed she has to get into his office and try and 'borrow' some tape to repair her bed, which was made of paper, bits of cotton balls and a torn piece of rag as a blanket.

As she took back off through the cupboard's passage, she ran and climbed up her rope with a smile. She always felt so sneaky and devious when he never caught her, but she was also terrified of what he would do if he did catch her. 

Mark paused from his work, having sworn he heard something in the walls. Turning his gaze to the right office wall. Sure enough, he heard a very small scratching noise and rose to his feet. "Mice." He mumbled with a frown. "I'll have to set up traps before I go to bed then."

Stretching his arms out, he left the office room and made his way through the house downstairs to his kitchen. Since he didn't have a lot of time before he had to give other model clients a call, he got down into his cupboard to get some cereal when he noticed the mess scattered all about the floor of the cupboard. 

Normally he kept his things neat, so this upset him greatly. Searching for the source, he found the torn open cereal box and growled, frustrated. "Stupid vermin." He hissed angrily, tossing the whole box into the trash. "Definitely set traps up." He mumbled to himself before he began to clean up the mess.

As he was cleaning up, he could have sworn he saw movement but just brushed it off as his own shadow. Once he had cleaned it up, he got a different box of cereal and poured himself a bowl to enjoy in quiet while he thought about which clients to call first.

Ellie gave a small sigh as she watched the box be tossed in the trashcan from the shadows of the cupboard. Guess she'll have to make another food source later. But when the human came back to clean up, her heart jumped into her throat when his chocolate brown eyes landed on her. Even though she knew he didn't see her, she had time to take in his thin nose, fine jawline, and one little freckle on his nose. As she watched him, she knew she'd have to be more careful with what she did. He almost saw her this time after all!

Once the cupboard was shut and she was plunged into darkness, she scurried into the whole and quickly began the rope climb up to the wall near his bedroom with a frown. Hopefully, a decent meal and nap would clear her head. And if not, well, she didn't really know what to do. All she knew was that she'd have to try something to relax, or else she would be too tense to make the run for tape tonight.